"Fifteen: The Unlikely Suspect" | "48 Hours" Podcast (Episode 4) | Forensic Files

Before we begin, just a trigger warning. The following episode does include mentions of graphic physical violence
and suicide. So, please listen with care. >> Hey, so uh I basically go into police department.
Okay. So, I have to read this stuff to you. Okay. You understand? >> Yeah. >> All right. On June 17th, 2013,
almost 2 months after Chip Northup and Claudia Mppen were found dead inside the safety of their bedroom, investigators
asked the police officer who worked at Daniel Marsh's school to bring the teenager into the station.
>> Uh, you have the right to remain silent. Do you understand? >> Yes. >> Anything you say maybe is against you in
court. Do you understand? >> Yep. Daniel would be questioned alone even though he had just turned 16.
California law states that minors can be questioned without parents present if law enforcement has reasonable belief
that they were involved in a crime. At no point did Daniel request his parents' presence. When the officer read
him his Miranda rightites, Daniel waved his right to an attorney. And then Detective Ariel Panetta began
the interview. >> Hey, I'll sit right here. Okay, I'll sit right here for you. >> Uh, I'm all right. You good?
>> Daniel was a little scruffy with long blond hair, thin and wiry. He looked like a regular teenager, a little
jittery and awkward. >> And student? >> Yeah. At high school. What uh year are you? I'm going into my
junior year. >> Officer Panetta told Daniel why they had asked him to come to the station.
>> You may notice, but we have an investigation going on in Davis in regards to some murders and we have
information um indicated you may you may know about it or you have some information as well. Um so that's why
I'm here to ask you about that. Okay. So >> Okay. But instead of questioning Daniel about
the murders, Detective Panetta started with the basics. School, friends, family, Daniel told the detective that
his life was stressful. >> How have you um been able to deal with some of that stress?
>> Uh honestly, I smoke pot. >> Okay. like I don't do it for any other reason than
to deal with my depression and my anxiety and all the that happens. It's just just
kind of, you know, a little bit of a relief temporarily. Like for a little bit, I can just relax.
I can just everything's all right now. You know, >> it was actually Daniel who first brought
up Chip and Claudia. He was telling Detective Panetta about his parents' divorce.
>> So your dad moved down South Davis, you say Har's apartment. >> Uh yeah, it was an apartment.
>> Okay. Mhm. What was the address? >> I I don't remember. Um I know that it was like I think they were neighbors
with the people who got killed. >> Okay. cuz I know like they were either next door or within like a few houses of
theirs. >> Daniel told the detective that within a week after the murders, his father had
moved out of the neighborhood. >> Well, it freaked him out, you know. I mean, you wake up and you find like the
people next to you are dead. It's like, wow, that could have been us, you know? I guess it's just kind of it's scary in
a way. It's spooky. Like you want to just get out of there. >> That was the perfect opening for
Panetta. >> Yeah. You So you you do know about the uh the murders over investigating
it. >> I mean, if Davis, when something like that happens here, it's like, holy crap,
everybody knows about it, hears about it. >> Uh tell me what you know about it. Um,
[Music] I think they were like an elderly couple or something. [Music] I know that somebody broke in and like
stabbed these two people, but I don't really know anything else. >> But as law enforcement officers
questioned Daniel over the next 5 hours, they learned he knew quite a bit more than that.
I'm 48 hours correspondent Aaron Morardi and this is 15 inside the Daniel Marsh murders
episode 4, the unlikely suspect. What was your reaction when you heard that the main suspect was a 15year-old
boy? >> It it shocked me. >> Special Agent Chris Campion worked in the FBI's behavioral unit. The Davis
Police Department had asked for his help the night before their sitdown with Daniel Marsh. About an hour into the
interview, Campion opened the door to the room. I walked into the interview room and introduced myself and sat down
and started talking to him. >> Hi. >> Hi. You must be Daniel. >> Yeah. I'm Chris Campion. Nice to meet
you. >> Nice to meet you. I'm um from the FBI. >> I spoke with special agent Campion in
2018, 5 years after he questioned Daniel. Daniel was no ordinary suspect and I wanted to hear more about how he
approached the interview. >> We had pretty good evidence, probable cause evidence, but certainly not enough
to arrest him there and then. >> And your then hope is to get him to admit what he did.
>> Of course, that's our goal. At the same time though, um teams are searching his
mother's house where he lived most of the time. uh searching his father's house where he he was at some of the
time and some other locations that they were trying to gather other evidence at the same time.
>> Campion started the conversation by asking Daniel about his family. >> Dad and mom split when you were pretty
young. >> Yeah. >> And then mom basically left, abandoned you or your family as >> Yeah. for like 3 or 4 months and she
just kind of randomly turned up again. >> Campion then got Daniel to confirm something his friend Alvaro had already
told the police. Daniel said that his parents divorced after his mother had an affair with a woman. It
>> was actually my kindergarten teacher. >> Wow. >> Yeah. >> In the interview, you're not just asking
him about the crime at all. You're you're starting just talking to him. What's the purpose of the beginning of
the interview? >> Well, in any law enforcement interview or any interview, you try to get some
rapport going to make the person feel at ease, right? And so, that's what we try
to do um in these cases. And of course, during that time, you get to know the person a little bit. I like to try to
drop a few hints and some themes that I might come back to later on. >> One of those themes Campion wanted to
pursue was trauma. He guessed that Daniel might relate to hearing about how people struggle like Daniel did with
mental health. Doing the kind of work that I do, there is I see a lot of people who have had lives that are
just devastated, devastated by all sorts of different things. And the refuge is the key.
And uh we all do that. I mean, from combat veterans in Afghanistan and Iraq who come back and they have these
nightmares and they're haunted and >> PTSD and stuff. >> PTSD, right? We see those and we see
them do just some horrible things cuz they just want the the pain to stop. They want the they need the refuge. They
need someplace to go where they can feel something besides what they're feeling.
Does that make sense to you? >> Yeah. That's a way to escape. Get some temporary relief,
>> right? >> Temporary relief from the hell that they're living in. >> Yeah. >> Does that sound kind of familiar to you?
>> Yeah. >> Campion spoke gently with Daniel and thought he had struck a chord with the
teenager. Daniel perked up as special agent Campion talked about the psychology of criminals and his mission
in law enforcement to heal people >> and not necessarily just the victims but the people who do these horrendous
things, what the public perceives as the horrendous things. >> Yeah. >> They agreed that people might do
horrible things, but that doesn't make them horrible people. that's not what they planned on for their lives, right?
But why did you get there? How did you get there? And I ask them, you know, and they they're sometimes very honest and
they say, "Chris, it's just I I can't not do it. I can't not have it. It's what I think about all the time."
>> Somehow it might be a form of OCD. >> It's it's an obsession for sure. and and
it's a compulsion because they can't not do it. >> Campion's approach to questioning
fascinated me. I asked him where he was going with it. >> Well, the biggest theme with Daniel that
I I suspected is that he didn't feel like anybody else could understand what was going on in his head, that he
thought that he was unique, that that nobody else felt like this. And so I tried to reassure him that I had talked
to other people who have had these kind of very dark thoughts and fantasies and that I wasn't going to look at him like
he was an evil terrible person that I could understand try to understand what was going on in his interior life in his
thoughts. >> Daniel was opening up more and more. Campion learned that Daniel's father
suffered from back and neck injuries. >> How does he get along? I mean, that's got to be constant pain.
>> Yeah, not very well. Uh, makes him pretty irritable. Uh, doesn't help with his temper, but he's on a lot of
painkillers. So, >> is you look like one of those guys that we have so many in our society right
now, Ben, that just are kind of addicted, you know, like Brett Farre, a football player. Yeah. Would you say
that that's >> I say that both of my parents are addicted to painillers. >> According to Daniel, there was one point
when he and his sister had to take care of their mom when she was diagnosed with
a disease affecting the nerves in her face. >> Uh she has fibromyalgia and trigeminal
neuralgia and she might have MS. They're not sure yet. [Music] Daniel coped with his parents' behavior,
he said, by slowly trying to starve himself. Ultimately, he checked into an eating disorder clinic for 25 days.
But after treatment, he still sought other ways to harm himself. Kind of see a scar too there. Yeah.
Yeah. At that point, Special Agent Campion leaned forward to have a closer look. Daniel extended his arm.
>> I've attempted suicide in the past. >> Those aren't suicide attempts, so that's
something different. >> No, not at all. Those aren't that. But it >> No, this doesn't have anything to do
with the suicide attempts. Okay. >> Daniel told Campion that his parents never found out about those attempts on
his own life. At the time of the police interview, Daniel had just turned 16. He had spent much of the conversation
with special agent Campion discussing the many problems in his life. But he also told him that his outlook on life
had started to improve somewhat when he began to take anti-depressant and anti-csychotic
medication. >> Yeah. um got to the point where I actually wake up in the morning and I
want to be alive, you know, like if I want to experience what life has, you know, I mean, I'm 16. I've just started.
Got my whole life ahead of me. I experience all the things that they're already experienced.
>> But Campion didn't see this revelation quite the same way Daniel did. He didn't
think Daniel Marsh was actually getting better or healthier. Campion had reached a far more chilling
conclusion. >> Well, to the casual observer, you might think he's just, you know, he's getting
through his depression and, you know, this is a good thing. He's looking forward to a a life of doing positive
things. In my mind, as I'm listening to that, I'm thinking he's looking forward to being a serial killer.
you're actually thinking that and why are you getting that? >> When I worked with the the profilers on
on analyzing this case and they've taught this to um people such as myself, FBI agents out in the field for years.
These people are fantasydriven. The, you know, the people who commit a crime like
we saw in the crime scene photos of of this double murder, they're motivated by a fantasy. their their interior life is
completely obsessed with this fantasy that he has. And Daniels, we find out later, is about death and mutilation and
murder and gore. And uh so I knew that that was going on um in his mind. So that's why I I felt pretty confident he
was talking about looking forward to his future as a criminal. This is what gave
him pleasure. This is what gave him meaning in his life. This is what really thrilled him.
And he he found that and could leave the depression behind. >> What exactly are you guys trying to
get from me? Daniel had asked, "What exactly are you guys trying to get from me?"
Close to 2 hours into questioning, FBI special agent Campion revealed concerns over some of Daniel's online postings.
>> People who are much more techsavvy than me, cuz I'm just an old guy. I don't know anything about anything, found this
thing called Tumblr. and your Tumblr page. Is that the right term? >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Daniel had an account on Tumblr. It's a blogging platform where users can share
videos, pictures, or text posts. Daniel's page was public, but under a pseudonym
on it. He had curated and saved a series of unsettling images. There were all sorts of images like Iraq war deaths,
you know, roadside bomb aftermath, um sniper killings, um horror movies, you know, Hollywood type horror movie
images, um all mixed together, crime scene photographs from different uh types of violent crimes. So, we had a
little bit of everything, but it was the common theme was gore and violence and death.
>> How unusual is that for a 16-year-old? very I think very unusual for any age.
Uh quite frankly, it's not a uh a focus or a an obsession um with most people. Campion kept patiently probing. He
needed to understand why Daniel focused so much on gore and violence. >> I'm wondering if it's a refuge for you,
Dan. In a way, it kind of is. Um, it's got a dark, screwed up sense of humor. And actually, a lot of that stuff
makes me laugh when I see it. And I don't know, not a lot of stuff makes me laugh.
>> Mhm. >> And so it's like I like horror movies and it's just it's the same thing as a
horror movie only it's real. And since I don't have any connection to whoever it
happened to, it doesn't really bother me. Right. So, and it's kind of like the cutting. It's it's a feeling, right?
>> Yeah. Seriously. Like it makes me feel something. And I've just always kind of been into
darker stuff. >> Darker stuff that would spook most people seem to thrill Daniel.
>> I don't know. It makes me kind of like shocked and [Music] I don't know I've fascinated with
anatomy and so like I don't know you can see what happened to them and how warped
their bodies are and just it's kind of fascinating to think like what could have done that? How did that happen?
Um why did that happen? just how did this all come to play? And I don't know, sometimes they'll be like
in a funny pose or something and they'll just look like stupid and so like giggle at it.
>> Finally, Agent Campion got to the point of the long interview and directly brought up why Daniel was being asked
all these questions. the tips they received that he had killed Chip and Claudia,
>> that you were there, that you did those murders. >> Me? Mhm. >> That's ridiculous.
Why is it ridiculous? >> I'm a kid. >> No, that's Well, like I don't I don't hurt people.
Like you can ask anyone around me. I'm a compassionate, affectionate person. I care about people. I don't when I hurt
them. I mean, yeah, they piss me off sometimes and they do some messed up [ __ ] but I care about people.
>> What were you thinking at that point? I mean, I found him kind of convincing.
Did you at all? >> Um, no, I did not at that point. Um, >> I mean, what would the normal innocent
person do? >> Are you kidding me? You think I murdered those people? Absolutely not. That's
ridiculous. Are you really think it's me? Something like that. >> The FBI agent had just confronted Daniel
with the reason they had brought him in. They had evidence that Daniel committed
the murders. Now, Campion had to get Daniel to admit it. >> I see you as a person who has a need.
You have a big need. You have a need for a refuge, maybe more than anybody I've ever run across. And at age
16, just 16, that's remarkable. Um, I don't know if that's a good thing. Probably not. But it is an unusual thing
to see to meet a person like you, Dan, who is been through some of the things you have and has
this need, the compulsion, I think, the the need to do something to feel. Well, yeah, but
I don't hurt people. >> Over and over again, Daniel continued to deny that he could have killed anyone.
>> I don't want to kill anyone. I don't want to hurt anyone. >> The person who did this will do it
again. I have no doubt about it. They can't not. It's the inside obsession and it's the
compulsion. Well, then maybe that's where you'll find your guy, sir. It's not me.
>> Almost 3 hours had passed in the interview room. It was a standoff. Special Agent Campion stepped out of the
room. Daniel cracked his knuckles and wiped his face with a tissue. When Campion returned, he was holding a DNA
swab kit. >> Um, I'd like to take your DNA to check it against things that have been found
at the crime scene. Pretty much standard CSI kind of stuff. Any problem with that?
>> Okay. Special Agent Campion asked Daniel to remove his boots. Then he again asked Daniel about the
elderly couple who had lived near his father. >> Have you ever been inside of that house?
>> No. >> Either when they were there or when they weren't there. >> Quinn. >> I went in once when we first moved
there. >> Okay. What were the circumstances of that? >> Neighbors. Meeting neighbors.
It's just a little welcome thing, you know. >> Daniel said that he had been to Chip and
Claudia's house once when his father first moved to the community. It was just a quote welcome thing, neighbors,
meeting neighbors. But it turned out that Daniel knew quite a lot about Chip and Claudia's home. He
had actually been invited inside with his father two years earlier. They show us around. I went in the
kitchen and in the living room. Showed me when show me their bedroom. Show me like at least their bathroom at
one point. I think it was a long time ago. >> He was planting the in the contingency
that there was DNA evidence there. planting the the thought that maybe that could have been the reason.
>> As another officer began opening the DNA swab packaging, Campion picked up Daniel's boots and began probing for
more information. >> Anything um unusual about these? Uh I don't I don't think so. But um you
ever worn them around blood? Um maybe I get a lot of nose bleeds. So maybe they got on that. Okay. But if
that was to be the case, it would be your luck. I >> We started talking about um his boots,
which I think he realized were the same boots that he had worn the night of the murders, and he realized he probably
didn't clean those to remove all of the physical evidence. uh we started talking
about his cell phone and the fact that cell phones are basically personal tracking devices and you know we could
track his movements on particular days and times. So those factors I think started weighing on him that he wasn't
going to be able to talk his way out of this and the walls started closing in on
him. You guys are threatening me with with what? The truth? With getting arrested for two murders.
I aming [Music] I am a sober skater right now. Of course, I'm going to do anything I
can to try and say that I didn't do this. That was um the first sign that he was
getting over that wall, that he was getting ready to talk to us about what really happened.
>> You want to help me and then don't ruin my life. >> Anything send me to the psychiatric
hospital. >> Backed into a corner, aren't they? >> Daniel Marsh seemed to see that he was
trapped. Chris, were you really prepared for what he told you next? >> Um, no. >> Every time
I look at someone in my mind, I see flashes of images of me killing them, >> okay?
>> In numerous ways, and numerous horrible ways, doing terrible things. I can't help it. It's just what comes into my
head when I see them. I don't want it to. Oh my god, it does. But it does. Daniel admitted to special agent Campion
that he had spent years thinking about killing people and that he made it a reality on that April night.
>> When was the first time you started thinking about killing these people down the street?
That night, I just I couldn't take it anymore. I had to do it. I lost control a little.
Okay. I just went into the street and wandered around for a while just looking for who would be
which house I should go to, who would be a good thing. >> Daniel said he had walked through his
father's South Davis neighborhood in the middle of the night. He scouted most of
the street and checked out 50 homes. >> Everyone had done a good job of locking their doors and closing their windows
until I got to their house. >> When he got to Chip and Claudia's home, he noticed that they had left a back
window open. So, he cut the screen and climbed through. listened for snoring and I heard it,
went to their bedroom. I opened the door and I just kind of stood over their bed
watching them sleep for a few minutes. My body was trembling. I was nervous but excited and exhilarated.
I was actually going to do it. I was there. It's finally happening. >> He said at that point Claudia woke up.
So >> I just started standing. She over and over all strapped in the torso and I tried to
get them. And then the husband woke up and he looked over and just as he looked over I
stabbed him in the neck. >> And he didn't stop. Daniel Marsh stab both Chip and Claudia a combined
128 times. >> Made sure they were both dead. Then I just kind of kept stabbing their dead
bodies. Don't know why. It just felt right. Okay. So, even after they stopped moving, even when they were dead, I
wasn't done. >> Daniel admitted to all of it. >> I just kind of messed around with
messed around with them. Cut open most of their torsos around here. And in the woman, I put a phone
inside of her and I put a cup inside the guy. I don't know why. I really don't. Okay. And
I like cut open her leg. I don't know why I did that either. I just kind of wanted to see.
The horrific details Daniel shared match crime scene reports and the autopsies, but what he said afterwards
was even more outrageous. I'm not going to lie, it felt amazing. How did it feel to
felt great? I I it was pure happiness and adrenaline and dopamine just all of it rushing over me.
It's the most exhilarating, enjoyable feeling I've ever felt. Special Agent Chris Campion never
changed the tone of his voice during the hours long interview. He never reacted visibly to anything Daniel Marsh said to
him, but he later admitted to me that Daniel Marsh was the most dangerous suspect he had ever interviewed.
With everything out in the open, Daniel was then willing to walk the police through where they could find the rest
of the evidence. The ski mask he wore, his gloves, his pants. He had stashed it all in his mother's garage, but he kept
the jacket. >> It's kind of a little momento and a constant reminder what happened
so I can see it and I'll kind of relive it. Daniel knew his admission of guilt was
going to lead to an arrest and was curious about what would come next. >> Did you get the death penalty?
>> That was kind of farfetched. >> You were 15, right? >> Yeah, I was 15 and got psychological issues.
[Music] There was one moment from Campion's interview with Daniel that especially
shocked me. In my years of reporting on crime, I had never heard anything like it in a police interrogation.
For the prosecutors building a case against Daniel, it was just one more example of how dangerous Daniel would be
if he wasn't put behind bars. for a long time. That's next time on 15. Inside the
Daniel Marsh murders. This series was reported by me, Aaron Morardi. Alan Pang is our producer. Mora
Walls is our story editor and Jamie Benson is the senior producer. Megan Marcus is the vice president of podcast
editorial for CBS. Special thanks to 48 hours executive producer Judy Tyiggard along with 48
hours producers Judy Ryback, Stephanie Slifer, and Greg Fiser from Goat Rodeo. This podcast was written and produced by
Carara Schillin, Max Johnston, Jay Venibals, Isabelle Kirby McGawan, Megan Nadulski, and Ian Enright.
Additional reporting and recording by Cara Schillin. Our executive producers at Goat Rodeo are Megan Nadulski and Ian
Enright. Original theme in music by Hans Delshi with additional music from Paramount. Final mix by Rebecca Sidell.
Then Fulton is our fact checker. Our production manager is Carara Schillin. I'm Aaron Morardi. If you're enjoying
this show, be sure to give it a rating and review. It helps more people find it and hear our reporting. If you liked 15
inside the Daniel Marsh murders, check out the rest of our 48 hours podcasts by searching 48 hours on your favorite
podcast app. Thanks for listening. [Music]

The police and the FBI finally meet Daniel Marsh face-to-face. While they have some evidence, they need Daniel to admit to killing Claudia Maupin and Chip Northup. During an hours-long interview, FBI special Agent Chris Campion builds a rapport with Daniel, who describes his troubled childhood, a fascination with violence and a history of self-harm. It all leads to a chilling confession.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Daniel Marsh, a 15-year-old, confesses to the brutal murders of Chip and Claudia during a police interrogation.

Key points

Trigger Warning. The episode includes mentions of graphic violence and suicide. Please listen with care.
Daniel's Stress Relief. Daniel admits to smoking pot to cope with his depression and anxiety.
Chilling Conclusion. Agent Campion suspects Daniel's improved mood is linked to darker fantasies.
Daniel's Dark Fascination. Daniel reveals his obsession with gore and violence through his online posts.
Denial of Murder. Daniel insists he is not capable of murder during the interrogation.
Daniel's Dark Confession. Daniel admits to years of contemplating murder and finally acting on it.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's like, wow, that could have been us, you know?

Daniel reflecting on the murders of his neighbors.

3:58WatchSep 17, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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